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Near Southeast DC Past News Items: Mar 13, 2007
In the Pipeline
25 M
Yards/Parcel I
Chiller Site Condos
Yards/Parcel A
1333 M St.
More Capper Apts.
Yards/DC Water site
New Marine Barracks
Nat'l Community Church
Factory 202/Yards
SC1100
Completed
Thompson Hotel ('20)
West Half ('19)
Novel South Capitol ('19)
Yards/Guild Apts. ('19)
Capper/The Harlow ('19)
New DC Water HQ ('19)
Yards/Bower Condos ('19)
Virginia Ave. Tunnel ('19)
99 M ('18)
Agora ('18)
1221 Van ('18)
District Winery ('17)
Insignia on M ('17)
F1rst/Residence Inn ('17)
One Hill South ('17)
Homewood Suites ('16)
ORE 82 ('16)
The Bixby ('16)
Dock 79 ('16)
Community Center ('16)
The Brig ('16)
Park Chelsea ('16)
Yards/Arris ('16)
Hampton Inn ('15)
Southeast Blvd. ('15)
11th St. Bridges ('15)
Parc Riverside ('14)
Twelve12/Yards ('14)
Lumber Shed ('13)
Boilermaker Shops ('13)
Camden South Cap. ('13)
Canal Park ('12)
Capitol Quarter ('12)
225 Virginia/200 I ('12)
Foundry Lofts ('12)
1015 Half Street ('10)
Yards Park ('10)
Velocity Condos ('09)
Teague Park ('09)
909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
Onyx ('08)
70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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3 Blog Posts

An Associated Press story, popping up all over the Internets today: "Come next April, Ryan Zimmerman might become the first player in major league history to hit a home run into a cherry tree. A grove of cherry blossoms behind the left field bleachers is one of the latest additions to the plans of the ever-evolving Washington Nationals ballpark. 'We couldn't find another ballpark that had trees in the ballpark,' team president Stan Kasten said Tuesday at the launch of a campaign to sell luxury suites. " If you look at some of the renderings I've posted, you'll see that trees have been in the design for a while, but I guess they decided now would be a good time to mention them (since the cherry blossoms are about to bloom here in town). In other stadium-related news, apparently there's new video demonstrating what the view will be like on the stadium concourse and in the suites (created for this suites sales campaign, I imagine). I'm still looking for an online version of it (Fox 5 news showed it on the air earlier today), will post when I have it.
UPDATE: Here's the new virtual tour of the stadium concourse and suites, from NBC4.
UPDATE II: And here's the Post's story on the cherry trees and the suites. And it mentions: "Team owner Theodore N. Lerner has said he will spend tens of millions to upgrade many of the stadium's amenities, including an outfield restaurant plaza, stone finishes behind home plate, bathrooms and glass partitions in the luxury suites, and the installation of a high-definition scoreboard. One goal is to have a giant baseball above the two-story outfield sports bar capable of projecting 360-degree replays of home runs and other highlights."

More posts: Nationals Park
 

From the Examiner: "The [Anacostia Waterfront Corporation] and [National Capital Revitalization Corporation] are the targets of a public hearing scheduled at 10 a.m. today before the council's economic development committee to help determine the fate of both agencies. Council Member Jack Evans, D-Ward 2, introduced legislation in January that seeks to dissolve both agencies and transfer their assets to the mayor's office." That's a better lede to their story than what they actually used: "Drive down to the area around the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium being constructed on the Anacostia Waterfront today, and it's hard to believe it's someday supposed to be a city showcase." Bah. The hearings aren't being shown on DC Cable 13 or via streaming video (a welcome reprieve for a sick blogger); I'll update this entry as news from the session comes out.
UPDATE: Here's the first story out, from the Washington Business Journal:"A pair of highly scrutinized D.C. development agencies received high marks from some community activists Tuesday, but city officials still aren't convinced the organizations are getting the job done. [...] 'I have had a steady stream of disgruntled and unhappy economic development people coming to my office complaining about these organizations,' [Jack] Evans says. 'We are here today to figure out how to make this work.' "
 

A little birdie was kind enough to pass along a URL for the "Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District", the BID in its initial organization phase that's slated to cover the entire Near Southeast footprint. (I'm not letting them rename my Hood just yet.) Right now there's only an Executive Summary posted, but it's certainly chock full of information about what's planned for the area, and how important a BID would be (they seem to be fixated on how dirty the neighborhood currently is). The city council must approve the creation of a BID, so this document is very much focused on persuading The Powers That Be that this BID is necessary; it's chock full of vision statements, goals, boundaries, number crunching, yadda yadda yadda. But considering that the initial directors of the BID are heavy hitters from WC Smith, Forest City Washington, Monument Realty, JBG, and Potomac Investment Properties, it's clear that there's plenty of muscle behind this proposal. But if you don't care about any of that, at least check out the cool previously unseen renderings of the Nats ballpark (on page 15) and the proposed Canal Park on the back cover (I'm adding the renderings to my project pages as well). You can see my previous entry about the formation of this BID (and more about what the heck a BID is) here. But definitely browse through the BID's Executive Summary, they clearly mean business [ahem].